Since hundreds of you guys got in on the fun with this American accent quiz, we couldn’t help but share the latest in online linguistic diagnostics – especially since this one seems to be pretty darn accurate. Which you’d hope, considering this quiz comes from the New York Times (and is adapted from some data from Harvard).
Like the last one, it asks how you pronounce certain words…
…but it also asks about what terms you use (firefly or lightning bug? semi-truck or tractor trailer? yard sale or garage sale?) to help pin down what area of the country your dialect is from.
It generates a dialect “heat map” of the United States, and pinpoints the 3 cities your dialect is most similar (and least similar to). It was pretty much spot on for both me and Sherry. For instance, I was born and raised right outside of Washington DC (and near Arlington, VA).
And Sherry grew up in northern New Jersey, right where her map is red hot.
We also thought it was interesting how much “warmer” my map was than Sherry’s – which is a way of saying that my dialect is more generic, while Sherry’s is pretty specific to the NYC/NJ area.
So here’s the link to the quiz if you want to take it for a spin yourself. It may ask some different questions each time, so results may vary if you take it more than once. One time my results even included Richmond!
Carrie Lea says
We totally broke the internet.
Mine was within a 200 mile radius, so I guess that is good. :) I grew up around a lot of different dialects and picked things up when I moved halfway across the country, so I am actually impressed it got me so close to where I grew up! The other cities were pretty far away.
ElleB says
Heh–mine was totally INACCURATE.I apparently come from Massachusetts (not Hawaii), though my map is mostly orange/yellow…except Texas.
KDot says
Ha! I’m from the east coast of Canada but did this for fun. It showed my hot spots as being in New England which is the closet area of the USA to me. Neat!
shereen says
Being a Canadian from Toronto, currently living in Ottawa, I was curious to see what this would reveal – and it’s pretty neat! It showed Buffalo (about 1.5 hrs from Toronto), Rochester (3 hrs from Ottawa) and Fort Lauderdale, FL (home to a lot of Canadian snowbirds!)as red hot! :)
Abby says
These are so interesting! I saw this on the today show earlier too! I’ll have to try the quiz!
Abby
Http//:thepreppycoxswain.blogspot.com
Cheryl says
Really interesting! I grew up in a Maryland suburb of Washington DC but my results showed Rochester and Buffalo. Both of my parents are from upstate New York – Rochester and Syracuse – so I guess they passed down their language quirks to me!
Kirsten says
Spot on! It did take a while for the map to generate though. My results were similar to John’s with a little more southern influence. Baltimore, D.C., and Winston-Salem VA. I was born and raised in Baltimore then went to college in south-western VA (go VT!!).
Sara says
I took this over the weekend and it pinpointed me to Richmond which is where I was born and raised! (And some redness near West Virginia where my family resides and where my parents were born and raised).
Kelly says
Pretty accurate. This was interesting for me. On a lot of questions, I could have chosen multiple answers. Although I grew up in eastern PA, my parents are from California and must have influenced me a lot because my reddest zone was the Bay Area, with some redness in the area I spent my childhood. I also lived in New England for years and Pacific Northwest the last 9 years, and I’ve picked up some words in each place. For instance, I say “traffic circle” but never saw one until I was an adult.
Care says
Totally spot on – San Jose/San Francisco!
Kerrie says
I couldn’t resist having a go, despite being Australian. It said I am most likely from New Jersey which is spot on with the last quiz. However I could also be from the southern most tip of Louisiana or spread across a large area of Wisconsin and Minnesota (LOL, I had to look up these state names on a map). I think the poor thing just scratched its head and threw some darts :)
Darcy says
SOO cool! Philly, NJ, Yonkers all the way!! EAST COAST!! I love that it had You Guys! I live in Colorado now, and people always look at me a little funny, cause I always say that!
Katy says
I’m Canadian as well so I thought it’d be interesting to see what came up. But I’ve lived most of my life in the Vancouver -Canada area and I got northern Washington state, so as close as possible.
mel says
ha, well i never grew up in america but spent a couple of years in florida…still the map pinpoints all my cities to alabama…guess i have more of a southern drawl than i would ever thought possible ;)
Kelly P says
Yup, Devil’s night and pop pegged me as a Detroiter (plus Grand Rapids and Toledo), depsite the fact I’ve lived in Tucson for the past 6 years and am married to a Brit. I thought for sure that both of those things would have impacted my speech patterns at least a little!
mel says
ha, well i never grew up in america but spent a couple of years in florida…still the map pinpoints all my cities to alabama…guess i have more of a southern drawl than i would ever thought possible ;)
Elise says
I took it twice and keep getting Central CA cities (Stockton, Oakland, Santa Rosa, Modesto, Reno) but I’m born, raised and still live in Los Angeles county (I’ve lived in 3 cities my whole life all within a 20 mi. radius). The only thing I can think of that makes me a bit unique is that I was homeschooled and my mom learned English as her second language. I’ve often found I pronounce things differently than a lot of my peers (ornery is pronounced WITH the “or” sound, not as “on-ry”) because my mom learned English phonetically in school, not from immersion in the language from birth. Then because I was homeschooled I wasn’t as influenced by peers as much as my mom.
ellen says
My map was the complete opposite of sherry’s, ha! Almost no blues except for NYC/Jersey and a little more of the coast. It did a great job though. Top city was Spokane and wouldn’t you know thats where I’ve lived for 20 years. I find it interesting though that when I’ve watched your videos or listened to interviews, I don’t hear a super thick accent on either of you. What a fun thing! As always, thanks for being a fun part of my day :)
Courtney says
Interesting… I’m Canadian and it said the city I have most in common with is Spokane, which makes sense. (It’s the PBS station we get. hahaha) My least similar is Richmond! :)
Kami says
This one was so exact! Salt Lake City, Boise and Spokane. I’m was born and raised just outside of salt lake!
Meredith Jones says
This was sooo much more accurate than the last one! I was born and have always lived in Seattle, and it gave me Spokane, Portland and… somewhere else nearby as my answers. Fun times! :)
Wendy @ New Moms Talk says
Interesting quiz.
I had difficulty answering the questions, as I had many answers for a bunch of the questions. I suppose it’s being a Navy brat raised by a Dad from Northern Indiana and a Mom from Arizona.
Words are often interchangeable for me, and I adapt my word selection based on where I am and with whom I am.
Erica says
My mind = Blown! It got my St. Louis “accent” right on target!!! “Cot” and “caught” are pronounced differently around here! And I loved my college “blow-off” classes. haha – this was so fun!
AbbyO says
I don’t understand how cot and caught could be pronounced differently…? Can someone explain this to a Mainer?
Young House Life says
They’re different for me! I would say “cawt a cold” but “sleep on a cot” (caught has a longer “aw” sound and cot is just like “robot” with a flat “ot” sound).
xo
s
BamaCarol says
It pegged me with Jackson, Mississippi, Baton Rouge and New Orleans. I was raised in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and we spent a lot of time in Louisiana so that is so accurate. Love this kind of thing!
Jeanna says
The test was crazy accurate! My closest city was 1 hour away….. so funny :)
carrie says
This was way off for me! Maybe since I’ve lived and traveled so many places, my speech is an amalgamation of all the places I’ve lived and people I’ve lived/worked with? Funny though that the three cities that were “red hot” on my map are three cities in which I’ve never spent any time.
Lola says
I took the quiz a couple times because my cities were no where close to anywhere I’ve ever lived! My dad grew up in New Jersey, and my mom in south Georgia, and I lived in Colorado/Virginia when I was learning to talk, but have been in North Carolina for almost fifteen years, and none of those states popped up on my maps- except to say that I couldn’t possibly have any influence from there! Now I wonder what I sound like!
Hayley says
That’s so funny! One of the cities that relates most to me is Colorado Springs, and I’ve grown up in Colorado for over 10 years!
KiwiKat says
I’m from New Zealand, but apparently my accent is most like those of New York, Yonkers and Philadelphia. I’m pretty sure that no one from any of those areas would mistake me for a local when I spoke though!
:)
Carrie says
Weirdly accurate!!
caroline [the diy nurse] says
Wow! I can’t believe how accurate it was. The whole east coast was red but the first city was richmond- a mere two hours away! The other two cities didn’t really fit, but I’ve only lived in one place my whole life so I can’t hold that against them. Fun!
Stevie says
Worked well for my whole family! Thanks for a fun diversion! :D
Rachel S says
It said i have an accent from the North East, which is weird because i grew up and live in Deep East Texas! I was born in Montana but it did not show any hints from there. Hm… Maybe i talk differently in my head while reading questions than out loud, because i have had strangers while overseas guess i was Texan.
Tirsa says
Well I don’t know about this one at all… In the end it gave me three cities one in Oklahoma and two in Missouri. I found this pretty funny as I’m a foreigner living in the D.C. area and I’ve never been to any of those two states. :-)
Janey says
It was freakily accurate for me…my cities were all in California, which is where I live now, but Michigan and New York, where I grew up and where my family is from, were just as red. Funnily, both times I took it I was least like Louisville and Lexington KY, but I had friends from there and to this day I can’t say “Loo-i-ville,” but instead sort of swallow it into “Loo-vul” as they always did. Thanks, that was fun!
Jen @ The Well Read Fish says
Having grown up in NY, schooled in Wisconsin, tons of family from Memphis, and now living in Seattle, I thought it’d never ping me. It put me EXACTLY in the town I’m from: Yonkers, NY.
Weird. Creepy. Accurate!
Tara says
I live in Western Canada now, but grew up back east. Interestingly the cities chosen for me were Buffalo and Rochester. Both my parents grew up in Hamilton, Ontario–which is not far from Buffalo–so obviously that influenced my dialect quite a bit. Add to that the fact that all the American TV stations I watched growing up in Ottawa were Rochester ones and you have a surprisingly accurate result…for a Canadian. ;)
Deb says
I’m from Canada, so I was curious to see the results. The whole map was yellow/orange/red (except for the area around NYC and New England), with my most similar cities being Seattle, Tacoma, or Portland/Vancouver. Closest to the border was the darkest red, which is right, but I’m from Ottawa, which is far away from the west coast. I guess I confused the program!
Joanna says
Ha, ha- these quizzes are too funny. I feel like I don’t have an area specific way of speaking, but both this one and the last one put me right in my home city of Boston.
Sharon says
That was soo neat! I live in Canada so I thought I wouldn’t get a correct result but took it just for fun. It picked Maine as my State. I live in Nova Scotia which borders Maine. Very interesting!
Rebekah says
This was great! I grew up in Richmond (in Bon Air, actually), and alot of folks said I didn’t have an accent, except for ya’ll, etc., this quiz had my top three cities as Richmond, Baton Rouge ,and Irving Texas, so I am vindicated! I sound like a Richmonder :)
Jess says
Lived this!
So random though! I’m from north of Toronto, Ontario… My family was born and raised around here (before that from Europe). And I got Seattle, Tacoma and Spokane… (I did it twice and got Spokane both times). Anyways… Oddly enough I am planning on moving to the west coast next year (Vancouver)… And the last quiz (the one you guys posted) I did also had west coast! I guess it’s destiny that I’m meant to be there! Or at least I’ll fit in with my language and terms/phrases!
bethanyb says
ha. this is what I got
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/20/sunday-review/dialect-quiz-map.html?_r=0
which is funny to me because I lived and grew up in VA my entire life until a couple of months ago… in which I moved to DC not KS. ha. But I have travels all over the US growing up so maybe it was hard to pin point where I’m from because I’ve learn so many different ways to say things from all over instead on one way from one place (yeah being home schooled :P). But the test was fun to take regardless. Some of them I wasn’t able to answer well; supper and dinner, I call “dinner” supper only in Sundays (like the last supper) and it’s dinner the rest of the week. so I couldn’t put that because it wasn’t an option. I also call the entry and exits to the highways and on-ramp and off-ramp but that wasn’t an option. Maybe I’m just odd like that. ha.
Leigh Anne says
Mine was absolutely perfect! It seems that my dialect is pretty general with the exception of Minnesota and the Northeast. Dark red in Louisville (where I live), Lexington, and Nashville. BLEW MY MIND!
Joseph says
For the first quiz I got 100% midland accent, followed by 92% The South. For the second quiz my map was the darkest in Virginia (with Richmond being one of my 3 similar cities), Missouri, and around where Georgia, Alabama, and Florida meet.
I’ve lived in VA most of my life, but I also lived in Kansas and Georgia for a couple years, so yeah… sorcery.
Megan says
I think this one is much better than the first. I live in NOVA, but I grew up outside of Seattle. I got Portland, Seattle, and Spokane as my top places, lol.
Amanda says
So, so fun!!! It pinpointed Irving, which is a suburb of Dallas, even though I’ve lived in Dallas my entire life. But it also pinpointed Brownsville, the very bottom tip of Texas, where the majority of my grandparent’s families are from, the border-towns of Texas. So awesome! But then it threw in random Jackson, Mississippi. lol Oh well, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad. :)
Brianna Johnson says
Super interesting! I’m Canadian (born and raised about 4 hours north of Idaho) and it gave me “Seattle” and “Tacoma” … fairly accurate :)
Melanie says
Very interesting! I live in Newfoundland so our accents around here sound a bit Irish – well guess what city came up in my results? Boston! That sounds about right. The second city was Worcester, makes sense. Funnily enough, Long Beach, CA was another result – weird!
Bonnie K (BornInaZoo) says
LOL … I’m east coast. Born in Chicago & lived my whole life near the shores of the lake Michigans.